Cylindrical containers, such as drums, do not maximize floor and pallet space for storage and transport. It would be desirable to provide a container in a cube shape to maximize storage of material on the footprint of a standard pallet.
Conventional rigid containers, such as drums, for the storage and transportation of flowable or fluid materials are bulky and heavy even when not in use. It would therefore be desirable to provide a lightweight container constructed of cardboard or the like. One drawback associated with the use of cardboard is the tendency of cardboard to deform from a square or rectangular cross section toward a circular cross section.
It is known to provide reinforcements to prevent such deformation, but such reinforcements can be complex, heavy, and expensive. It is possible to provide a lightweight container with interlocking top and bottom flaps to prevent the container from deforming. Such flaps, however, can require the user to spend costly time tend interlocking the top and bottom flaps when the container is to be used and releasing the top and bottom flaps when the container is to be stored or transported. It would be desirable to provide top and bottom flaps that do not require as much time to interlock and release the top and bottom flaps, which still providing a flat transport orientation and allowing access to interior of the container through the top of the container so that a fill head may be inserted to fill a flexible bag provided within the container.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a lightweight, flexible container that maximizes the surface area of a standard pallet, may be folded flat for storage or transport, does not require as much time to interlock and release the top and bottom flaps, and which prevents the container from deforming while a fluid nozzle is inserted through an opening in the top of the container to fill a flexible bag contained therein with flowable material.